Media concentration – democracy, business, regulation - 22 April 2005

Welcome to a conference on Friday April 22nd 2005 from 1 p.m. to – 5.30 p.m. at the Auditorium of the Finnish Broadcasting Company’s headquarters, Radiokatu 5, Helsinki.

A unique opportunity to hear from and discuss with top experts insights into the future of media concentration in Norway, Estonia, Finland and the European Union

The conference will be simultaneously translated to English, Norwegian/Swedish and Finnish.

<CENTER>PROGRAMME</CENTER>

01.00 Media concentration and the law
Norway is one of the few countries where the concentration of media ownership is regulated by a law which came into effect on January 1st 2005 – why, how and for what gain?
Editor-in-chief, Mr. Hans Hjellemo, Norway

01.45 Greedy media
Every journalist’s dreams – a journalistic medium of his or her own is crushed by the big media conglomerates.
Editor-in-chief, senior journalist, Mr. Pekka Hyvärinen, Finland

02.15 Coffee break

02.45 Estonia – A playground for the Nordic media companies?
Experiences of media concentration in a small country.
MEP, editor-in-chief, Ms. Marianne Mikko, Estonia

03.30 Media freedom and information flows seen from an EU perspective
Should media diversity be guaranteed with increased regulation?
Secretary General, Mr Julian Priestley, European parliament

04.00 Panel discussion
Speakers of the day and the audience

04.30 Light buffet - refreshments

Chairperson : Mr Timo-Erkki Heino, personnel representative at the Administrative Council of the Finnish Broadcasting Company

Registration : By April 15th 2005 to e-mail address: [email protected]

Additional information : Timo-Erkki Heino, by e-mmail at [email protected] or telephone +358-09-1480 2655, mobile +358-40-749 1472,

Presenters

Mr. Hans Hjellemo is the editor-in-chief of Kampanje, the leading magazine on media, advertising and PR issues in Norway. Before this Mr. Hjellemo has been covering media in the business daily Dagens Næringsliv and served as the information chief in the Norwegian public service broadcaster NRK.

Mr. Pekka Hyvärinen is a senior journalist with extensive working experience in print, radio and television. In 1980s and 1990s Mr. Hyvärinen served as the editor-in-chief of Suomen Kuvalehti magazine and of the news department of MTV3, the leading commercial television channel in Finland. Recently Mr. Hyvärinen has acted as an independent media entrepreneur.

Ms. Marianne Mikko was elected to the European parliament in the 2004 June European elections. Ms. Mikko has worked for 20 years as a journalist in the Estonian radio, television, newspapers and magazines. The latest journalistic post was the editor-in-chief of the Diplomaatia magazine. In the European parliament Mikko belongs to the Socialist group (PES) and is a member in the Committee on Culture and Education, which also deals with the matters concerning the media.

Mr. Julian Priestley has been working for the European parliament since 1973. British citizen Mr Priestley acted as the secretary general of the Socialist group in 1989-1994 and after that as the Head of the private office of the president of the parliament. In 1997 he was elected as the Secretary General of the European parliament, a post where Mr. Priestley is in charge of the 4000 strong administrative staff of the European parliament.


The conference is organised by the Union of Radio and Television Journalists in Finland, in cooperation with the European parliament, Finnish Broadcasting Company, and MTV- and Nelonen-commercial television companies.